MamaBlogger365 – Cross Roads, a Thin Threads excerpt

We are so pleased to welcome regular excerpts from Stacey Battat and Kiwi Publishing, home of the Thin Threads series of books. Want to know more? Visit www.thinthreads.com for more story samples or to buy the book!

A wise Jewish sage said – “change one person and you change the world.” Over the last five years I have collected real stories for more than ten editions of Thin Threads: Stories of Life Changing Moments, and each of these stories makes me reflect on how a seemingly random interaction can forever change a person.

As mothers, we are offered many chances to meet and embrace our own and others’ children, and we have the power to make a life-altering difference at any one moment in time. By taking the time to listen, encourage and hug a child in need, we change her/his world in ways that we cannot even envision. Here is an excerpt from our anthology that demonstrates this beautifully. Even on cold winter days in Chicago, one woman took advantage of moments each day to impact children at the ‘crossroads’ of their lives:

‘Cross Roads,’ excerpted from the full story found in:Thin Threads: More Real Stories of Life Changing Moments The minutes each day that made the difference
Madeleine Kuderick

It’s amazing to think what an impact she could make in the fifteen steps it took to cross Ridgeland Avenue. No matter what happened, I knew Frosty would listen to my every word like there was nothing more important than hearing how my hamster got stuck in its Habit Trail or how I failed my multiplication tables for the eighth time. Frosty always knew just what to say. By the time I reached the other side of the street, my spirit felt lighter and I believed in myself again, even in my dreams to write.

Of course, I knew deep down that Frosty gave the same kind of guidance and encouragement to all the other kids, especially the ones who walked out of their way just to cross at Frosty’s intersection. She held her post for nearly thirty years and sometimes I’d see the older kids return with a report card in hand, or a shiny class ring, or even a letterman jacket. They’d wait on the corner, anxious to show Frosty their latest accomplishments, beaming like they were still seven years old. I didn’t know it then, but one day I’d return to that same corner myself, at seventeen, proud to tell Frosty how I’d been elected editor-in-chief of the high school newspaper. Just like she knew I would.

It’s been almost forty years since Frosty first walked me across Ridgeland Avenue. I’m not a shy school girl any longer. In fact, I’ve grown to achieve much success in my professional career and in my writing pursuits. Still, I have to wonder how much of this I owe to Frosty and to the encouragement she gave me at a fragile time when I needed it the most.

I never knew Frosty’s real name. I never saw the color of her hair beneath her uniform cap. In fact, I never spent more than a few minutes crossing the road with her each day. Yet somehow, in the brevity of those moments, Frosty left a memory so enduring I cannot think of her today without feeling a lump in my throat. I can see her still: arms outstretched, eyes smiling, white gloves waving me across the road.

I’m sure Frosty knew back then what I am only now discovering; that even in the slightest intersection of lives, lives an opportunity to make a powerful difference — to listen, to love and to change someone forever….

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